Sam Falls has a different take on beauty and the urban environment with his two huge (15 feet long) hangings created by putting abandoned tires on colored canvases and leaving them outside to age for several months. (At Chelsea’s Metro Pictures through Aug 2nd).
Sam Falls, Untitled (Large Blue, Glassel Park Los Angeles, CA), & Untitled (Large Orange, Glassell Park, Los Angeles, CA), both pre-dyed canvas and metal grommets, 2013.
At seven feet tall, Alex Israel’s shades are impressive. One coldly reflective lens propped against the wall in Metro Pictures’ summer group show ‘Noa, Noa’ seems designed less as sun protection than as proof of its wearer’s extreme fashionability. (In Chelsea through August 2nd).
Alex Israel, Lens, UV protective plastic, 2012-13.
Trevor Paglan’s latest project ups the ante on artistic ambition; a series of one hundred images titled ‘Last Pictures’ was etched on a disk and affixed to a communications satellite that went into space last November, creating a selective portrait of mankind’s nature and history for all or none who may see it. Here, a gallery visitor examines unselected images from Paglan’s shortlist. (At Metro Pictures in Chelsea, through March 9th).
Trevor Paglen, ‘The Last Pictures’ installation view, Feb 2013 at Metro Pictures.
In a 20-year retrospective of his work at Chelsea’s Metro Pictures Gallery, Gary Simmons’ ‘Stardust, Blizzard’ from 2006 is a standout. Simmons turns two terms for cocaine into beautiful but haunting text images using his signature, hand-smearing technique. (Through Jan 19th.)
‘Kultur ist ein Palast der aus Hundescheisse gebaut ist.’ Spelling out the phrase ‘Culture is a palace built from dog shit,’ in German gives the idea more gravitas. Putting it in blue neon, more consumer appeal. Both are relevant to artist collective Claire Fontaine’s use of this quote by Bertold Brecht via Theodore Adorno criticizing mass culture’s commercialization. How the art world’s own extreme commercialization in recent years changes the equation is the question begged by this piece. (‘Dogma,’ a show more or less about dogs and people runs at Metro Pictures through Aug 10th).